L&D

Tonight I was looking over stuff I did when Charly was born. I wrote down her L&D story, and thought it was fun to re-read it. So, here goes my labor and delivery experience for Rosalie. I am writing this 5 weeks after the fact, but it is still pretty fresh in my mind...I wonder why?!?

I was induced on December 30th. The day began great as I was officially on maternity leave and could enjoy the morning spent with Charly and Ben. Later that day we took Charly to the movie for the first time. She LOVED it. I think she loved it because it was such a rare thing and it was a good movie...Tangled. I totally digged it, as did Ben. Then we used a coupon at Taco John’s and headed on home to begin the nightly festivities. My parents came in to town to watch Charly for us, and what a blessing that was to be able to focus on this delivery and not worry about Charly.

I was able to get into the hospital at 7:30 p.m. The L&D was packed because everyone (us included) wanted to get their babies delivered before the year end so as to put them on their taxes and use their deductibles...ya can’t blame us, good business ;-)

I finally had my IV in and received my Cytotec by 9:00 p.m. We were all settled in and enjoying a little Back to the Future on the boob-toob. The contractions were there for sure, but I handled them much, MUCH better than last time (mind over matter...right?). Around 11:00 the nurse said I was at a 3 and she would call the Epidural Man in so I would be all pleasantly numb before Doc broke the water. I was game. I knew how wonderful those epidurals are and couldn't pony-up and go natural.

Now, the epidural was not as easy as my last one and here is why, I had Mexican food before I went to the hospital and only one word goes with Mexican food for me and that is GAS. Oh my STARS! I was trying to bend over my belly with horrid gas, trying not to embarrass myself and deal with a contraction all at once. Needless to say, I had the nurse and the Anesthesiologist laughing pretty good with such words as “gut bomb” and “growlies.” Now, after I got my first prick, something minor happened dealing with a vein and me bleeding (didn’t result in a spinal headache or needing a blood patch, no big deal). So he had to do another one. By this time, the gas was just killing me...or was it the contractions...who knows! Ben started feeling a tad lightheaded, so he tapped out. After the epidural was in, the Epidural Man was more interested in Ben being in pharmacy school and giving him an anatomy lesson than my drugs...seriously. So, it took a while before my contractions kinda backed off, but they never went away as they did with Charly (you will read that phrase a lot...I compared this labor to the last one the whole time which wasn't wise).

After I was all settled, I was at a 6 and it was about 12:45 a.m. My Doc came in and broke my water. Just as I remember, not a pleasant experience. Now this is when I was starting to wonder if the epidural was working because I felt everything (contractions, the needle breaking the water....everything) whereas I didn’t with Charly.

After the epidural, my labor slowed down. My nurse, who was FABULOUS, came in and upped the ante and gave me more Pitocin. She was just set on getting that baby out of me before her shift ended at 5 a.m. I rotated positions for an hour or so...Ben snoozed on the oh-so-uncomfortable chair. Then around 3:30 I started feeling a little pressure, but then it would go away. I finally asked the nurse to check me around 4:30ish, give or take.

THEN THINGS REALLY JUST TOOK OFF. I like to look at this next 15 minutes as a deer jumping out in front of a vehicle, crazy eyed, scared to death, not knowing what is coming its way.

Any who, I was at a 6. The nurse left, then came right back in and told me to lie on my back. I rotated over and she left again. Not but 5 minutes later I was in what I like to call rip-someone’s-head-off pain. The nurse came in right around this time and checked me. Yup, I was ready to push. It was around 4:35 (yup, went from a 6 to a 10 just that quick). I remember the time because I was straining to see in the dark room what the time was. I started pushing right around 4:40 (think deer analogy) and had Rosalie at 4:46 a.m.

Let it be known to all, pushing this kid out was so fast and intense (for me). I swear on everything good and holy my epidural was NOT working. It was something I wasn’t mentally prepared for, so I am without a shadow of a doubt probably making it worse than it was. I had the kid out so quick (to me anyways), Ben barely coached me through two contractions. It terrified me to say the least, and that my friends resulted in me saying some weird stuff...thankfully no recording was done to save me from any further embarrassment.

I will say this, I am thinking of giving the whole L&D thing a go “al naturale” the next go around...but no promises...epidurals are too tempting. Reason being for this decision is how quickly I recovered this time and I didn’t tear, but that could have been because it was baby #2. That was a nice change of pace though, so no complaints.

I am really thankful that I am able to have children and have two beautiful girls. The Lord has blessed my family and I abundantly. I hope to make Him proud with how I raise these girls for they will have the most important and influential job one day...being a mom. I hope the Lord knows how utterly humbled I am by all I have been given, and I hope to show Him by how I live.

So, as for baby #3....that is oh so thankfully a couple years away. Two down...YEAH!